Heaven Is for Real

Is heaven a hope?

Or as real as the earth and sky?

I once asked my grandfather that question.

And he said by the time he knew the answer it would be too late for him to tell me.

The day would come when I asked that question again,

staring into the eyes of my son.

- Mighty quick. - I don't get paid by the hour.

I'm afraid you don't get paid by cash, either.

- Are you sure you're okay with the carpet? - Times are tough.

Your business improves, mine will, too.

- Why don't you grab a hose? - Did you rob a carpet store, Todd?

Unlike you guys, I actually have a job. Look at these bums.

And he's got five of them. Do you want some help?

You know, if you keep accepting things instead of money,

eventually, you're going to run out of things and money.

Yeah, I have to downsize, man. Downsize.

You ladies just keep your seats. Todd and I got this.

- Yeah, don't help. Not necessary. - No problem.

Longhorns, let's go! Line it up! Show me what you got!

Coach is late!

Go, go, Burpos, Burpos!

Let's go, Davidson! You were slacking last week. These ladies are watching.

That's it, that's it. That's what I'm talking about right there.

I want you and you up.

...every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Every Monday.

...never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Hang on, hang on, hang on. We gotta work on that pitch, ladies.

- Well, it's a little bit pious. - Shall we try it one more time?

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Okay, once more.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing

- There's my guy - Daddy!

How are you? What's happening?

How are you doing?

How was your day? What's going on in there?

Mom has a house full of women and Cassie thinks she's one, too.

Oh, no. They're singing.

...tongues above

Todd's home.

All right, how about boy's night out, we go get some pizza? Pizza Palace?

- Really? - What do you think?

What do you think?

Does that sound good? What kind are you going to get?

- Cheese. - No, you're not.

- Cheese. - Cheese.

What's wrong, Dad?

There are some people over at the hospital and they want me to come by.

...to sing Thy grace

- I'll go with you. - You're going to go with me?

I don't know if that's such a good idea.

It might be a little sad or a little scary.

That's all right. If I'm with you, I won't be afraid.

You're coming with me, then. Hospital and pizza. Hospital and pizza.

Let's go. You know what we say when we're hungry?

There's the doctor.

- Reverend Burpo. - Todd.

- Todd. - Yeah.

My name is Lee. My father asked for a pastor.

- Would you mind talking to him? - Sure.

- Great. - Sure. Are you okay, pal?

He's in here.

My name's Todd.

I'm here to pray for you.

Is there anything you're sorry for?

Everything.

I believe God forgives.

And if he forgives anything, he forgives everything.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

"And then said to the lion, 'Of all the deaths

"'we could have died, this is the one we would have chosen."'

Take your blanket.

- Night-night. - Dad.

- Yeah? - I prayed for the sick man.

We're currently looking at 62 degrees

with winds out of the south-southwest at 13 miles an hour.

Lows expected to be in the mid-to upper...

When Jay offered us a house as a part of my salary,

he never mentioned the rail road.

I like the rumble. It's romantic.

- How tight are we this month? - No, don't talk about money.

Slim Forrest couldn't pay for those garage doors.

He donated some carpet for the church instead.

But he said he had the cash when he placed the order.

Things changed.

You had a rough day, didn't you?

As long as I'm with you, I'm not afraid.

You're good.

But let me tell you something.

The next time I'm practicing your favorite hymn and you howl like a dog,

I'm going to whip you like a dog.

Do you hear me?

Doesn't sound so bad.

Stop.

For I love the little children of the world

I will take you by the hand Lead you to a better land

For I love.

Do you think Mom realizes how funny she looks when she does that?

No. And we're not going to tell her, are we?

All the children of the world

Red and yellow, black and white All are precious in his sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world

High five. Really good. Really good, Douglas.

Voices of angels, right?

Well, this morning I want to talk to you about what sort of commitment makes a marriage,

makes a relationship, makes up a life.

Last night, I stood in the bedroom where our children sleep

and I listened to their mother read them a bedtime story.

And in the final saga of this wonderful land

where animals talk with humans and a great lion leads them all to love

and faith and courage.

In the last chapter of this great story,

written for children just like me and Mrs. Davis over here,

all of the lion's enemies have swept away his followers except for two,

a bear and a unicorn,

who are trapped in a cave with the lion.

And because the entrance to this cave is narrow,

the wave after wave of soldiers that the evil king sends in

to try and kill them can't do it.

The lion, the bear, the unicorn, they fight them off.

So finally, the king sends in a messenger.

He says, "Look, the one that we really want, the one we're interested in, is that lion.

"Give him up and the rest of you will live.

"The unicorn, we're going to cut his horn off.

"We'll make him pull a cart for the rest of his life.

"The bear, we're going to put in chains and shackles, make him dance in the circus.

"But both Of you Will live.

"All you have to do is give up that lion."

Finally, the lion looks at his friends with that look in his eyes,

"What are you going to do?"

And the bear and the unicorn, they just smile

and they say, "Of all the deaths that we could have died,

"this right here is the one we would have chosen."

But the bear and the lion and the unicorn, they weren't looking for an easy road.

I don't think Jesus was either when he accepted the cross.

There's a lot of people, they don't believe that story anymore than

the one about the lion, the bear, and the unicorn.

I'm here with you all this morning because I believe in them both.

And I'll never give up that lion.

- Rosa. - Sonja.

- How are you? - I'm good.

I have something I wanted to give you. It's just something small.

Thank you.

Oh, Sonja, this is too beautiful.

No. Not for her.

- I'll see you guys next Sunday. - Yeah. Take care.

Look, baby. Sonja gave it to us for Lucia.

It's gorgeous.

You're great when I'm there to inspire you.

If you want to inspire me, you get a hit at that softball game this afternoon.

Outstanding. I will.

- Watch that ball like that. - Embarrassing.

- He's a good batter. - Embarrassing.

All right, Jay!

Hold up.

- Let's go, baby. - Come on, Sonja!

- Come on, Mama! - All right! Let's go, Sonja!

Two more!

- Come on, Mama. - Go!

Go! Go, go, go!

- No! "Out!

- No, he knocked it loose. He's safe! Safe. - There you go.

- You can't do that, man. That's dirty. - Or what? ls there a problem?

Is there a problem?

I'm all right.

You just got me warmed up, baby. You got me warmed up now.

Come on, baby.

Yeah, let's go. Easy out.

Yeah, Todd!

- Go, Sonja! - Yes!

- Come on, Todd! - Safe. Safe.

Michael, Michael! It's bad, it's bad!

Hold on, let me look. Don't move. Get my bag.

- Yeah, yeah. - Are you okay?

Todd, just stay still, buddy.

- We have to cut your pants, Todd. - Don't touch it!

- It's a spiral fracture. - Is it going to heal?

It'll heal, but he won't be climbing any ladders soon.

Todd, just stay still, buddy.

I'm going to put some pressure on it, Todd, okay?

Todd, we gotta lift it up, buddy.

We gotta lift it up.

As many of you already know, I was hurt sliding into third.

- I was safe. - No, he was out.

Okay, I was out.

I had a great teacher early in the ministry

who told me that we'd have good days and bad days

and we'd seldom know at the time which is which.

But a few Sundays ago, as I was sliding into third and I heard the crack of my leg,

I had a pretty good idea which was which.